The Madison Community Foundation is sponsoring three years of access to Community Cars fleet of hybrid and high-mileage vehicles.

Independent Living can now take the $5,000 a year it had spent on vehicle-related expenses and keep prices low for its Meals on Wheels clients, usually elderly residents, said Rita Giovannoni, Independent Living CEO.

After the three years of foundation sponsorship, Independent Living could continue with Community Car on its own at 50 percent of what they spent on transportation before the Madison Community Foundation suggested a partnership with Community Car, a Madison-based car sharing organization.

To encourage interest in volunteering for Independent Living and Meals on Wheels, Community Car is waiving its application fee for Independent Living volunteers.

The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona (CFSA) is pleased to announce $442,000 in grant funding to 20 Southern Arizona nonprofit organizations including $50,000 for technical support to strengthen the nonprofit sector. >> View list of grantees

The Community Foundation is supporting effective nonprofits through grants and technical assistance in creating visible, positive impacts for populations most impacted by the economic crisis:

Victims of abuse and domestic violence - $100,000
Increasingly vulnerable populations - $100,000
Populations needing financial empowerment - $125,000
Nonprofits needing additional capacity and technical assistance - $117,000
Extensive community research and data provided by 176 nonprofits revealed these four impact areas for this years focus.

Information on a variety of nonprofits is also available to CFSA fund holders.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009, 7:00am PDT|Modified: Tuesday, June 23, 2009, 7:19am

Michelle Obama stopped by Moscone West on Monday to kick off President Obamas national call to public service.

Speaking to a sold out crowd of almost 5,000 people at the opening of the three-day National Conference on Volunteering and Service, Obama announced the start of United We Serve, an 81-day summer of service that the Administration hopes catapults volunteerism to the center of American civic life.

This, more than anything, is the key point I want to make today that this new administration doesnt view service as separate from our national priorities, or just in addition to our national priorities.

While Obama charged an adoring crowd in San Francisco (after spending the morning building a playground at Bret Harte Elementary School with Maria Shriver, Californias First Lady), 19 other cabinet secretaries and senior administration officials participated in other service projects to promote Obamas call to service elsewhere in the country.

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gave $1.8 million to Connecticut and two of its community colleges Monday to expand remedial education programs and improve graduation rates among low-income and minority students.

The money will allow Housatonic and Norwalk community colleges to build on innovative programs designed to bring students up to speed quickly, such as an online math course that allows students to progress at their own pace and a three-week math refresher course at the start of the semester.

Currently, about 70 percent of Connecticut's community college students must take remedial courses in math or English before they can start taking college-level courses.

These remedial courses typically don't count toward graduation requirements and can frustrate students, sometimes prompting them to drop out.

The Gates Foundation said it was intrigued by some of the approaches Connecticut is taking to address the remedial problem and smooth the path for students.

Among four new programs at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, for example, is a bridging program with area high schools that encourages students to continue taking math classes in their senior year. The idea is to better engage students, many of whom work full time, with classmates and give them a stronger connection to college, said Mary Anne Cox, assistant chancellor for Connecticut's community colleges.

"It's really a testament to the state of Connecticut and to Housatonic and Norwalk community colleges that they received this grant. They have some of the most promising programs out there," said Marie Groark, a spokeswoman for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In addition to Connecticut, the Gates Foundation gave grants to four other states Florida, Ohio, Texas and Virginia to expand their programs and policies and to compare results.